On Saturday, 2nd December 2023, TEDx UCH Ibadan held an Open House event at the Omolola Alade Hall, School of Nursing, University College Hospital, Ibadan. The event, which was scheduled to commence at 11am, eventually began more than an hour behind schedule, as guests failed to arrive in time.
The Open House began with some games and bonding exercises, and an introduction to TEDx, which stands for an independently organized TED event, by Ms. Gladys Ibrahim, the TEDx UCH Ibadan Team Lead. She expressed her excitement about the event and stated that it was one of a number of events that will serve as a prelude to the main TEDx event scheduled to happen next year. Shortly after, members of the audience were randomly distributed into teams and Mr Temitayo Ajala, another member of the TEDx UCH Ibadan Team, shared the judging criteria for the innovation challenge.
The problem statement was, “Interprofessional rivalry poses a significant challenge to the delivery of quality healthcare. These frictions between health workers impede teamwork, compromise patient care and on occasion degenerates into workplace violence. Develop a plan to mitigate interprofessional rivalry in healthcare settings aimed at fostering a collaborative environment which ensures seamless teamwork and enhances patient care outcomes. Incorporate immediate, medium and long term components into your plan.” The three teams, Team Harmonia, Team Red, and Team Ingenious, all had 45 minutes to brainstorm and come up with their solutions to the problem statement. Dr Funmilola Olaolorun, a Consultant at the Department of Community Medicine, and one of the judges for the Challenge proferred tips to the teams during the brainstorming session and emphasized the importance of events like this in fostering collaboration and ultimately improving our society.
Following the brainstorming session, each of the three teams presented their ideas using cardboard papers and took questions from the audience and the judges. The judges, SNO Babalola and Dr Chidinma Okoro, both applauded all teams for their innovation, team work and overall presentation. Regardless, there had to be a winner for the Challenge and the collated scores revealed that Team Harmonia came in third place, with Team Ingenious and Team Red coming in second and first place, respectively. All the members of Team Red will each be receiving a 10% discount on the TEDx Adventure scheduled to come up soon.
Speaking with Ms. Victoria Fadipe, a student of the School of Nursing, UCH, who was awarded as the most punctual person to the event and also won the challenge as a member of Team Red, she said, “It was such a great opportunity to meet with great minds and to work together as a team. I’m glad we were able to engage in critical thinking and provide innovative solutions to the problems we were asked to solve. I’m grateful for TEDx Open House for making my weekend a productive one. Instead of wasting my time sleeping or watching movies, I’m glad I was able to do something that innovative.” She added that she would love to do it again and hopes for more similar opportunities in the future.
